Improvement in sheep-shears



UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

IMPROVEMENT IN SHEEP-SHEARS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 35, l SS, dated May 6, 1862.

To all whom, t may concern:

Be it knowii that l. YILLlAn ll. `\\'HI'1E,ot' \Voodbur.v, in the State ol. Connecticut, have invented a new and Improved Slieep-Sl'iears; and I do hereby declare that the following', taken in connection with the drawings, is a t'ull, clear, and exact description thereof.

ln the drawings, Figure jl is a.l plan ot the shears. Fig'. 2 isa longitudinal section through the bow, showingl one halt oi the shears iii elevation; and Fig. Il is a transverse seetion through one of the handles.

Sheep-shears are usually made with the handles, bow, and part ot' each blade in one piece of wrought iron, and upon tlie backs of the blades are welded steel ed ges. This mod e ot' construction is expensive, as it involves a piece ot troublesome forging', and the shears when iliade are not so reliable as they should be, as the iron signing is apt to set alter use. Such shears, moreover, do not op en as promptlyv and sharply as the)v would do il? the bow were made oi' steel. I have endeavored to manufacture a shear which is as cheap, it not cheaper, than those now iii use, and at the saine time is a better and more reliable article. This shear is composed of two handles, u u, of malleable iron, npon projections from which, torni ingl backs ol' the blades, are laid the steel edges (i Z1. l prefer to make the handles oli' east-iron made malleable in the usual inanner after the arti ele has been east, and to shape them substantially as shown on the drawingswtliat is to say, with a semi-cylindrical section. I make them ol this shape beca-use it combines stitness with lightness, affords a rounded surt'ace Vt'or the grasp of the hand, and a cavity toi' the' insertion of the bow, so that the latter may be Iirnily attached by one rivet in each handle. The bow is then forged out ol;l steel-east-steol by preference-and its extremities are d rawii down and concave'd, so as to Vlit with tolerable aceurac)v into the eoneaves of the handles. A single. rivet is then d riven. through eaeh handle and one extreniit)` oi' the bow, and the bow and handles are thus tiriiily secured together. If the handles are not coiicaved, they must be made heavier, and each extremity of the spring will .require at least two rivets to hold it in place. The shears as a whole are therefore `composed ot' live parts-my two handles, two edges, and

one bow or spring-three of the parts bein steel and the others iron. The shearis elieap, strong', light, and l'ias a quick aet-i\i'e sprine, not liable to set or grow weak by use; also, the edges are kept more firmly together by the superiorityv of steel over iron as a stiff iii-in spring'.

l claim as my own invention-- The herein-described article, called a sheep shears, made substantially in the manner described, and eonsisting' of a steel bow, iron handles, and eutting-edges arranged and attached to each other substantially in the manneil set fertili.

In testiniony wliereot' l have hereunto subscribed niy naine.

WM. ll. 'IHTE.

In presence of* Y. A. STORES, JAS. H. HoLconB. 

